Sisters and Sisterhood: The Kenney Family, Class, and Suffrage, 1890-1965 (Oxford Historical Monographs)

The Kenney family grew up in Saddleworth, outside Oldham, in the last decades of the nineteenth century. In 1905, three of the sisters met Christabel Pankhurst, a turning point which changed the rest of their lives. Annie Kenney became one of the leaders of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), Jessie was an organiser at the heart of the organisation, and Nell campaigned outside the capital. Caroline and Jane used their connections within the suffrage movement as the springboard for careers in innovative education on both sides of the Atlantic. While working-class women are increasingly acknowledged in histories of the WSPU, this study is the first to make them the primary focus, and, in doing so, it opens up a new conversation around sex, class, and politics, and how these categories interacted in this period. This is a study of the possibilities for, and experiences of, working-class women in the militant suffrage movement. It identifies why these women became politically active, their experiences as activists, and the benefits they gained from their political work. It stresses the need to see working-class women as significant actors and autonomous agents in the suffrage campaign. It shows why and how some women became politicised, why they prioritised the vote above all else, and how this campaign came to dominate their lives. It also places the suffrage campaign within the broader trajectory of their lives to stress how far the personal and political were intertwined for these women. Although this is a book about 'working-class suffragettes', Lyndsey Jenkins also reveals what it says about women as workers and teachers, religious believers and political thinkers, and friends and colleagues, as well as suffragettes. Above all, it is a study of sisterhood. Cover Sisters and Sisterhood: The Kenney Family, Class, and Suffrage, 1890–1965 Copyright Contents Acknowledgements List of Figures Introduction ‘The Kenneys of Shelderslow’ Class in suffrage history Sources, method, and overview 1: Childhood Home and family, gender, and class Formal and informal education Religion, faith, and doubt Paid work Practising the ‘religion of socialism’ Conclusion 2: Beliefs Sex and class in feminist rhetoric Spirituality, faith, and the meaning of the struggle Service, duty, and responsibility Conclusion 3: Class The construction, uses, and reception of Annie Kenney’s image The uses and limitations of common experience as the basis for common cause with working-class women Constructing the model suffragette Friendship, love, collaboration, and their limits Conclusion 4: Militancy Militant identity at the grassroots Friendship and militancy: Jessie Kenney and the ‘Young Hot Bloods’ Identity, belonging, and transformative moments of militancy Conclusion 5: Careers The benefits of suffrage activism for feminist teachers Montessori education and social disadvantage Wartime service and postwar citizenship Educating girls for womanhood Conclusion 6: Aftermath Retirement? Searching for meaning in faith Service, duty, and paid work Representation, life-writing, and the historical record Conclusion Conclusion Bibliography Manuscript collections Contemporary printed material Newspapers and magazines Books and articles Unpublished material Index This is a book about the possibilities for, and experiences of, working-class women in the militant suffrage movement. It uses the Kenney family as a case study through which to understand who these women were, what they wanted, and what the vote meant to them. It identifies why they became politically active, their experiences as activists, and the benefits they gained from their political work. It stresses the need to see working-class women as significant actors and autonomous agents in the suffrage campaign. It shows why and how some women became politicized, why they prioritized the vote above all else, and how this campaign came to dominate their lives. It also places the suffrage campaign within the broader trajectory of their lives in order to stress how far the personal and political were intertwined for these women. It addresses questions of class and gender, politics and activism, and agency and identity in the early twentieth century, engaging with recent historiographical research around politicization, networks, and transnationalism. It is a history of education, faith, and social mobility as well of suffrage, and of teachers, theosophists, political activists, social reforms, friends and sisters, as well as suffragettes. By studying a family of working-class suffragettes, Lyndsey Jenkins explores when, why and how the Kenney family got involved in militant suffrage campaigning, what it meant to them, how they benefited, and how it shaped their lives